Under violent astrophysical conditions such as supernovae
explosions, intense fluxes of neutrinos can drive a novel class of plasma
instabilities: the electroweak versions of the standard electron and
photon driven forward scattering or streaming instabilities. Employing the
relativistic kinetic equations for the neutrinos interacting with plasma
via the weak interaction force we explore the different collective plasma
instabilities driven by neutrinos. We examine the anomalous energy
transfer between the neutrinos and the background plasma via electron
plasma waves. (Neutrino streaming instability) and the generation of
quasi-static B fields (electroweak Weibel instability). Landau damping of
plasma waves by neutrinos as a possible neutron star cooling mechanism is
also considered. The relevance of the electroweak plasma instabilities for
the extreme conditions occurring in supernovae, gamma ray bursts is pointed
out. We point out the important role these instabilities play in
re-energizing the stalled shock in type II supernovae.